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aroft  Library 


m  e<\  r^  v\    a  n  t  V»  v«T:  , 


THE  STONE   STATUES   OF   NICARAGUA 

x 

.jrt^V* 

BY  Sf  K.  LOTHROP 

A    RCHAEOLOGISTS  have  known  for  many  years  that  large 

/~\     stone  statues  are  found  in  the  region  of  the  great  lakes  of 

Nicaragua.     However,    as    yet    no    serious    study    of    the 

problems  raised  by  these  figures  has  been  made,  and  I  therefore 

propose  to  discuss  a  few  points  in  connection  with  them. 

In  height  the  statues  range  from  three  to  twelve  feet,  and  the 
subject  is  invariably  a  human  being,  usually  male,  and  often  shown 
in  conjunction  with  an  animal  figure.  The  types  of  particular  in 
terest  are  as  follows: 

I.  A  human  figure,  to  the  back  and  shoulders  of  which  clings 

an  animal  (fig.  67,  d). 
II.  A  human  figure  bearing  on  its  head  the  head  of  an  animal 

(fig.  67,  b). 

III.  A  human  figure  shown  in  conjunction  with  an  animal  or 
an  animal  head,  within  the  jaws  of  which  appears  the 
human  head  (fig.  67,  c).  Sometimes  the  animal  head 
of  this  type  is  partially  conventionalized  (fig.  67,  a). 

These  three  types  form  a  unit  series  in  which  certain  changes 
take  place.  Thus,  starting  with  a  complete  animal  figure  carried 
on  the  back  of  the  man,  we  end  up  with  the  human  head  within 
the  animal  jaws.  This  series  is  obviously  connected  with  a  con 
ception  common  among  the  ancient  Mexicans  and  Maya,  but  it 
is  distinguished  from  the  Mexican  and  Mayan  treatment  in  that  the 
Nicaraguan  body  is  always  human,  even  when  the  head  is  enclosed 
in  animal  jaws,  while  the  Mexican  and  Mayan  body  is  character 
istically  an  animal,  within  the  jaws  of  which  appears  a  human  head. 

In  addition  to  the  above  types  there  are: 

IV.  A  human  figure  seated  on  the  top  of  a  tall  column. 

3" 


ESI 


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AMERICAN   ANTHROPOLOGIST 


[N.  s.,  23,  1921 


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LOTHROP] 


THE   STONE    STATUES    OF   NICARAGUA 


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V.  A  human  figure  with  a  large  gorget  held  in  the  hand  or 

suspended  from  the  neck. 

VI.  A  human  figure  with  the  arms  folded  across  the  chest. 
VII.  Stone  columns  with  pictographs. 

In  distribution  these  statues  come  into  direct  contact  with  the 
Maya  area.  Dr.  Gordon  discovered  in  the  Uloa  Valley  a  rather 
crude  sculpture  (figure  68,  a)  which  is  comparable  to  a  figure  dis 
covered  by  Squier  on  Zapatero  Island  in  Lake  Nicaragua  (fig.  68,  b). 


FIG.  68. — A  stone  statue  (a)  from  the  Uloa  Valley  Honduras,  compared 
with  a  figure  (b)  found  on  Zapatero  Island,  Nicaragua. 

Seler  found  near  Comitan,  a  town  in  southwestern  Mexico,  a  statue 
(fig.  69,  a)  stylistically  very  close  to  one  of  the  Nicaraguan  types 
(fig.  69,  b  and  c).  This  form,  the  fourth  of  our  classificatory  system, 
represents  a  man  seated  on  the  top  of  a  tall  column.  The  capital 
of  this  column  is  round  while  the  shaft  is  usually  square. 

A  third  pair  of  statues  of  greater  significance  is  se,en  in  figure  70. 
The  standing  figure  (a)  was  found  on  Zapatero  Island  and  is  en- 


AMERICAN   ANTHROPOLOGIST 


[N.  s.,  23,  1921 


tirely  typical  of  that  region.  A  seated  figure  (b)  was  found  by  the 
writer  at  La  Florida,  a  town  some  sixty  miles  from  the  great  Maya 
city  of  Copan  and  itself  surrounded  by  ruins  of  Maya  type.  The 
La  Florida  sculpture  bears  on  its  back  a  small  animal  figure,  which, 
we  have  seen,  is  a  Nicaraguan  feature  and  is  not  characteristic  of 
Mayan  art. 

While  the  La  Florida  figure  belongs  in  the  same  group  with 
what  we  have  called  the  Nicaraguan  figures,  it  also  is  stylistically 


MP 


FIG.  69.— A  stone  statue  from  southwestern  Mexico  (a)  compared  with 
statues  of  Nicaraguan  type  (b,  c). 

affiliated  with  a  group  of  crude  sculptures  found  principally  in  the 
highlands  of  Guatemala  (fig.  70,  c),  which  are  probably  a  local 
development  of  the  Nicaraguan  type.  The  method  of  representing 
the  hands  and  arms  as  well  as  their  position  on  the  body  indicate 
stylistic  affiliation,  and,  furthermore,  similar  subjects,  among  which 
should  be  mentioned  crude  figures  with  a  plate  or  disk  held  on  the 
belly,  are  represented  all  the  way  from  Guatemala  to  Costa  Rica. 
This,  perhaps,  js  the  germ  of  the  idea  which  later  developed  into 
the  reclining  human  figure  type  commonly  called  the  Chac  Mool, 


LOTHROP] 


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AMERICAN   ANTHROPOLOGIST  [N.  s.f  23,  1921 

now  proved  to  have  been  evolved  as  early  as  the  Maya  Great 
Period  (sixth  century  A.D.)  by  its  discovery  by  Prof.  M.  H.  Saville 
at  the  ruins  of  Quirigua. 

Two  statues  of  the  Guatemalan  sub-type  (fig.  70,  d  and  e)  have 
been  found  at  the  ruins  of  Copan,  where  they  had  been  built  into 
the  foundations  of  stelae  5  and  4  which  are  dated  9.14.0.0.0  and 
9.17.12.13.0  in  the  Mayan  system  or  452  and  523  A.D.  From  this 
we  may  safely  infer  that  these  two  monuments,  and  indeed  the 
whole  group  under  discussion,  are  comparatively  early,  and  that 
their  makers  occupied  the  Copan  region  before  the  arrival  of  the 
Maya. 

The  small  jade  figure  known  as  the  Tuxtla  statuette  (fig.  71,  a) 
bears  the  date  corresponding  to  96  B.C.  Mr.  S.  G.  Morley,  on  the 
evidence  of  the  glyphs  themselves,  believes  that  this  date  is  contem 
porary.  It  is  therefore  the  earliest  date  yet  known  on  the  American 
continent  which  is  not  of  obviously  legendary  character.  It  has 
been  recognized  that  the  Tuxtla  statuette  did  not  accord  stylistically 
with  other  Mayan  remains  of  any  period  whatsoever.  However,  it 
can  be  connected  with  two  large  stone  figures  from  the  Nicaraguan 
area  (fig.  71,  b  and  c)  and  with  certain  jade  pendants  from  the 
nearby  peninsula  of  Nicoya.  The  distinguishing  characteristic 
of  the  Tuxtla  statuette  is  the  appendage  which  covers  the  mouth, 
which  may  be  a  beard  but  more  probably  represents  the  bill  of  a 
bird.  The  two  Nicaraguan  statues  here  represented  are  marked 
by  the  presence  of  objects  on  the  lower  part  of  the  face  which  I 
feel  confident  are  intended  to  represent  the  bill  of  a  bird,  for  when 
we  examine  the  jade  pendants  from  Nicoya  (fig.  72)  we  find  forms 
almost  identical  with  those  of  the  statues,  the  evolution  of  which 
into  bird  types  can  be  definitely  traced.  It  is  also  of  interest  to 
note  that  in  the  Nicoya  jades  we  can  trace  the  transformation  of 
this  bird  type  into  forms  which  are  well  known  in  South  America 
in  the  early  Peruvian  cultures. 

The  question  who  made  these  statues  now  arises.  On  artistic 
grounds  our  search  can  at  once  be  limited  to  three  peoples,  the 
Maya,  Nahua,  and  Choretega,  and  I  believe  that  they  may  be 
definitely  ascribed  to  the  Chorotega  for  the  following  reasons: 


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I.  The  majority  of  the  statues  are  in  territory  not  known  to 
have  been  occupied  by  anybody  but  Chorotega,  while  all  the  statues 
occur  within  the  extreme  limits  of  this  stock,  i.e.  between  the  State 
of  Chiapas  in  Mexico  and  northwestern  Costa  Rica. 


FIG.  71. — The  Tuxtla  statuette  (a)  compared  with  two  large  stone  figures 
from  the  Nicaraguan  area  (b,  c). 

II.  We  may  eliminate  the  Maya,  because  it  is  certain  that  they 
never  came  to  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua.     From  archaeological 
remains  it  seems  that  Maya  art  once  dominated  Salvador,  and 
certain   Mayan  motives  appear  on  Costa  Rican  and  Nicaraguan 
pottery,  but,  in  the  words  of  Dr.  Spinden,  these  designs  are  "carried 
so  far  from  the  original  that  only  an  expert  can  see  the  connections." 

III.  The  Nahua  came  to  Nicaragua  at  a  comparatively  late 
period — probably  in  the  early  part  of  the  fifteenth  century — and 
surely  never  occupied  more  territory  than  at  the  time  of  the  con 
quest.     They  certainly  did  not  settle  near  La  Florida  and  in  the 
Uloa  Valley,  so  they  could  not  well  have  been  the  makers  of  the 
statues. 

IV.  While  the  statues  are  not  Maya  or  Mexican  in  style,  yet 
they  are  related  to  ceramic  and  jade  remains  from  Nicaragua  and 
Costa  Rica  which  are  universally  ascribed  to  the  Chorotega. 


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[N.  s.,  23,  1921 


A  word  must  now  be  said  about  the  Chorotega.  At  the  time 
of  the  Spanish  conquest  they  were  divided  into  four  geographical 
groups  consisting  of :  (i)  the  Chiapanecs  in  Chiapas,  or  southwestern 
Mexico,  (2)  the  Choluteca  in  the  Honduranean  Department  of 
Choluteca,  (3)  the  Mangue  in  the  region  between  Leon,  Managua, 
and  the  Pacific  in  Nicaragua,  and  (4)  the  Orotinans  in  north 
western  Costa  Rica.  Their  language  bears  relationship  to  that  of 
no  other  people,  although  at  one  time  Brinton  thought  that  it 
might  be  a  branch  of  the  Aymara  tongue  of  Peru.  The  Chiapanec 
possessed  a  legend  that  they  had  come  from  Nicaragua,  while  all 
the  Spanish  historians  of  Nicaragua  agree  that  the  Chorotega  were 
the  "ancient  and  indigenous"  inhabitants  of  that  land. 


FIG.  72. — Jade  pendants  from  Nicoya. 

With  this  information  before  us,  we  are  now  prepared  to  ad 
vance  certain  hypotheses  as  to  the  movements  of  population  in 
Middle  America: 

I.  The  Chorotega,  who  on  archaeological  grounds  show  relation 
ship  with  South  America,   probably  moved  from  that  continent 
into  Central  America  in  very  early  times.     Archaeological  remains 
show  that  they  occupied,  at  one  time  or  another,  the  highlands  of 
Chiapas   and   Guatemala,   the   eastern   and   northern   portions   of 
Honduras,  the  central  and  western  parts  of  Nicaragua,  and  the 
northwestern  corner  of  Costa  Rica. 

II.  The  Maya,  who  probably  came  originally  from  the  district 
to  the  south  of  Vera  Cruz,  in  the  centuries  immediately  preceding 
the  Christian  era  occupied  the  region  of   the  Peten  in  northern 


LOTHROP]  THE    STONE    STATUES   OF   NICARAGUA  319 

Guatemala.  At  the  beginning  of  the  first  century  A.D.  they  ex 
panded  to  the  southeast,  and  settled  in  the  Copan-Quirigua-Uloa 
Valley  region,  driving  out  the  previous  inhabitants,  who  were 
Chorotega. 

III.  In  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries  A.D.  the  Maya  civiliza 
tion  was  uprooted,   probably  through   the  failure   of  agriculture, 
and    the  population    moved    into  Yucatan  and    the  highlands  of 
Guatemala.     In  the  latter  region  they  again  encountered  and  drove 
out  Chorotegan  tribes,  of  which  the  remnants  today  are  the  Chi- 
apanecs  and  Mazatecs. 

IV.  Various  tribes  of  which  we  have   not  spoken,  the  Lenca, 
Xicaque,  Ulva,  etc.,  are  almost  certainly  of  South  American  origin 
and  perhaps  speak  a  South  American  language.     They  appear  to 
have  moved  northward  in  the  wake  of  the  Chorotega,  whom  they 
drove  out  of  Honduras  and  central  Nicaragua. 

V.  A  third  migratory  wave  from  South  America  consisted  of 
such  Chibchan  tribes  as  the  Corobici,  Guetar,  and  Talamanca.     At 
the  time  of  the  Spanish  conquest  the  Corobici  and  Guetar  had  come 
into  contact  with  the  Chorotega  of  Costa  Rica,  and  were  rapidly 
exterminating  them. 

VI.  Nahua  tribes  started  to  work  down  the  west  coast  of  Central 
America  in  comparatively  early  times,  yet  no  group  of  this  people 
passed  the  Lempa  River  in  Salvador  until  the  beginning  of  the 
fifteenth  century.     At  that  time,   however,   the  Nicarao  entered 
Nicaragua   and   displaced   the    Chorotegan    tribes   occupying   the 
Isthmus  of  Rivas,  the  narrow  strip  of  land  which  separates  the 
Lake  of  Nicaragua  from  the  Pacific. 

The  hypotheses  which  have  been  advanced  above  rest  on  a 
complex  of  facts,  for  which  as  yet  no  other  explanation  has  been 
offered.  The  outstanding  features  to  which  attention  is  invited 
are:  (i)  that  stone  figures  of  several  distinct  types  distributed 
from  southern  Mexico  to  Costa  Rica  apparently  form  a  unified 
group;  (2)  that  this  group,  in  part  at  least,  is  very  early,  as  is  shown 
by  the  presence  of  these  statues  under  the  Copan  altars  and  by 
their  artistic  connection  with  the  Tuxtla  Statuette;  and  (3)  that 
one  and  only  one  race,  the  Chorotega,  has  ever  occupied  the  full 
and  exact  limits  of  the  region  wherein  these  statues  occur. 

CAMBRIDGE,  MASS. 


